


Lover, Now Lost

by sadlyflavoured



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Angst and Feels, Character Death, Established Relationship, Grief/Mourning, Heartbreak, I made myself cry a little while writing oops, Low-key kinda dramatic, M/M, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:29:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22647928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadlyflavoured/pseuds/sadlyflavoured
Summary: Almighty Tallest Red reflects on the tragic death of his mate, Almighty Tallest Purple.
Relationships: Almighty Tallest Purple/Almighty Tallest Red
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27





	Lover, Now Lost

Grey and foreboding, the air felt unbreathably thick with regret as the darkness seemed to grow in volume; everything felt like it was spinning like some twisted merry-go-round with no end and it was horribly disorienting. Tallest Red let out an uncomfortable choke, his trembling hands reaching up to tenderly stroke his fingers against the cruelly-cold PAK that pressed against his chest. The smooth satin blankets nor the carefully fluffed frilled pillows offered no comfort as Red sunk himself further into the bed, his eyes staring unfocused at the blank light-grey ceiling. It hadn’t been all that long ago that Red now slept alone, but the time seemed to fall from face of mind; a month or two quickly started to feel like a very lonely century. 

Red could vividly remember a time when his Co-Leader and romantic partner would nuzzle up against his chest, whispering bitter complaints or sugary sweet nothings. His fingers dangerously missed being able to interlock, his lips missed the constantly sweet tasting kiss and, he missed being constantly pestered by his other half. He missed his Tallest Purple. 

And now, rather than having the violet-eyed Irken pressed up against his chest, all Red had now was the now-gone leader’s slightly cracked PAK. It was upsetting to imagine a universe where the only contact he could ever have with Purple, would only be from a life-source machine. 

Wrapping his arms tighter against the object, Red swallowed back the sorrow creeping up in his chest and closed his growing-wet eyes. 

God, if Purple could see him now, he’d probably give a playful jab. Poking fun at Red, someone who hardly let those incredible walls waver, Purple would tell him how stupid he was, how he should just let it all go and sleep it off. That was something Purple often ended up telling the crimson leader, to let things go. But Red didn’t know if he could let go of this, of him. 

Reopening his teary eyes, Red sucked in a shaky breath. Everything was coming back to him now, all the unwanted memories, all the fresh pool of heartbreak and loss. It happened often, remembering that day and Red felt as though he no longer had control of when he thought about it; sometimes it felt like he was just trying to torture himself. 

The Meekrobians had claimed war on them after finding their singular Invader spying on their planet for conquest. It was something that was bound to happen and the Irkens certainly weren’t worried, they had the upper hand after all with a higher race quantity and incredible weapon quality. And because of their cockiness, the Tallest had found themselves in a pretty bad situation. 

The Meekrobians had the Massive surrounded with their own ships, lasers were flying everywhere, and explosives were setting off left and right; it wasn’t look as clean cut as the Irkens had thought. And somewhere along the line of battle, the enemy had broken into the Massive and made the attack all the more personal. And, in a panic, Red had explained to Purple that they had to split up to keep watch and man down both sides of the Massive. They would have to hold the enemy off until they could get their grasp and use some sort of advantage. 

Looking back on it now, Red most certainly should’ve went with him.  


Both Leaders had said their short ‘good luck’ to each other and went off on their own to take control of the situation. On Red’s end of the stick, it hadn’t been as much of a neck-breaker as he thought it was. There were a lot, sure, but he wasn’t worried and taking out the enemy hadn’t been that much of an issue—And in the back of his mind, he thought the same was happening on the other end. 

Turns out, he was wrong. 

Feeling comfortable with the situation, Red hurried over to the other half of the Massive to meet back up with Purple and decide what’d happen next; but things had gone a lot differently than he thought. Rather than Purple standing triumphally with a cocky smile, ready to run into Red’s arms, there lay his mate bleeding out on the floor with a slightly damaged PAK. 

The rest of the memory always went blurry in Red’s mind. All he could make out in the fuzz was that Purple was dying and nothing could’ve stopped it. Red sort of remembered picking Purple up and just…holding him. If it really was fate that his partner leave him, he wanted it to be in his arms. 

“Red, you’ll be okay right?” Purple had asked him, his voice subtly shaking.

“I don’t know” Red had answered, his hand gently cupped around Purple’s cheek, stroking at the barely visible freckles. 

“You’ll make sure no one goes into my sleeping-quarters, right?” 

“Of course not. I’d never let anyone in there” 

The purple-eyed leader hummed sweetly in response, a bloodied hand gripping tightly to Red’s shoulder, his head resting against the cold crimson chest piece. 

“You’re not allowed either, okay?” Purple reaffirmed, a weak but genuine smile plastered on his face.

“For someone who’s dying, you talk a lot..” Red muttered, a smile ghosting onto his lips for a moment and a dry chuckle leaving his throat.

A small silence bloomed between them and, for just a moment, Red didn’t know if Purple had decided to pass silently. Which thankfully hadn’t been the case when Purple spoke up again. 

“Red..I’m scared..” Purple whispered tearfully.

“Is it just now hitting you?” 

“Mhm…When I first felt myself bleeding so much, I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal. I thought I’d be able to heal and that be that. But…Everything’s spinning, Red. It’s scary because I don’t…I don’t know how much longer I can keep up with it, I feel like I’ll pass out…” 

The injured Irken gave a small pained groan and pressed himself further into the red armor before him, his grip on Red tightening and then loosening to a limp wrist.

“Shh…It’s okay, I’m still right here” Red soothed, holding his mate closer to him. “It’s going to be okay…I’ve still got you, alright? If you pass out, I’ll be here when you wake up...” 

It was a lie, Red knew for certain that there would be no waking up; but he wanted it to be true enough to be comforting. Purple continued to whisper the colored name on his lips, his antennas bobbing timidly as large violet eyes looked up into crimson. And that was it. Almighty Tallest Purple had died, and it was in the hands of his lover. 

Once Red was completely certain the body had stopped all bodily functions, he carefully removed the now dim-lighted PAK that wrote Irken text on the purple screens. The PAK was registering its Host as dead and once the information had been enveloped, any indication of the object being useful became unclear as all the lights and functions; assumed to be deactivated. 

And thus, where the object lay now, held tightly in trembling arms pressed against a broken heart. The death felt so long ago when it had most likely only been a couple months, even so, Red felt as though he could never recover.

It was hard to lose someone whom had been at one’s hip since birth and waking up every day with that reminder was the bitterest of feelings. The crimson leader sought no reason to attend his Tallest duties as he mourned the death of his lover. It was just so unfair. 

“Pur..? Can you hear me..?” Red whispered hoarsely, his gaze now fixated on the PAK. 

“It doesn’t hurt anymore, does it? Are you in any pain?” 

Naturally, there was no Purple to answer his question. Just an empty room, Red’s thoughts and a deactivated PAK. A habit becoming of recently, Red was just talking to himself. 

Despite the efforts to hold back, Red’s walls came crumbling in an instant and another quiet sob left his throat. Warm tears fell as if they had their own mind, his eyes squeezed shut as his whole body shook. He was falling apart at the seams. 

He hated being alone, even if he never really said it out loud as much as he should’ve. And having been laying on Purple’s bed, in his sleeping quarters—Despite the fact he said he wouldn’t—made it all the worse as memories of sleeping together flooded his mind. 

“Please don’t go..!” Red begged through violent sobs. 

And as much as he would’ve loved Purple to tell him otherwise, there was no going back on what had happened. Death wasn’t something to be changed and it was just something Red couldn’t accept. 

And no matter how much he pleaded and cried, there’d never be anyone to answer his calls again.

**Author's Note:**

> So It's been a while since I've posted anything, I've been really really uninspired but thankfully this idea was enough to get me on my PC, so sorry about that. 
> 
> So, the idea of the Meekrob starting a war with the Irken Empire comes from the idea of "Invader Dib", an unfinished movie/multi-parter. Oh and I was originally gonna write this story to end with Red trying to use the PAK on another Irken in attempt to bring the "personality" of Purple back "alive", last minute I decided against it. 
> 
> \--Anyways, sorry for the little ramble and I really hope you enjoy reading through this! Love you guys and hopefully I'll post in the next century ♡


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